 of the Republic of Kazakhstan.){kind=link}
The decision to abolish the trade representation of Kazakhstan in Russia was made to optimize the work of state bodies and taking into account the high level of interaction with the Russian Federation. This was reported by the portal kapital.kz with reference to the press service of the Ministry of Trade and Integration (MIT) of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
“Currently, all institutional conditions have been created for Kazakhstani business to work in the Russian direction and resolve all operational issues. The released employees will be used to strengthen the diplomatic presence of Kazakhstan in other countries,”
— explained in the department.
According to the press service, this decision will not require the denunciation of the intergovernmental Agreement on the mutual establishment of trade missions dated October 22, 1992 and will not affect the work of the Russian trade mission in Kazakhstan and the development of bilateral trade and economic cooperation.
“Russia is the main trade and economic partner of Kazakhstan. This is due to a number of objective factors: geographical location, the common economic space of the EAEU, a developed legal framework, the availability of effective platforms for promoting bilateral cooperation – the Intergovernmental Commission, the Forum for Interregional Cooperation, Subcommissions on the main areas of trade and economic cooperation. Today, there are about 8,000 companies with Russian participation and 3,348 joint ventures operating in Kazakhstan. On the territory of VDNKh in Moscow, there is a trade and exhibition center of international importance “Kazakhstan”, whose tasks include the promotion of cultural, humanitarian, trade and economic cooperation,”
— noted in MIT.
The department added that in Russia, in addition to the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the Russian Federation, there are consulates general in St. Petersburg, Omsk, Kazan and Astrakhan. The issue of opening a general consulate in Yekaterinburg is being worked out. Further work on trade and economic cooperation between Kazakhstan and Russia will also be continued through the QazTrade partner network, which is present in all major Russian regions.
The trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Russia in January-November 2022 amounted to $23.6 billion, which is 6.8% higher than in the same period of the previous year ($22.1 billion).